As AmeriCorps celebrates its 20th anniversary, it’s exciting to reflect on what the authors of the National Community Service Trust Act imagined for the power of national service. They believed that service should be an innovative public-private partnership, and Minnesota Reading Corps is bringing that vision to life.

During this holiday season, we are reminded of a timeless lesson: it is better to give than receive, more blessed to serve than be served. And our new Volunteering and Civic Life in America report shows that Americans embrace this idea -- not only during the holidays, but all year long.

The recent death of Nelson Mandela affected many who were touched by his inspirational life story, and his fight as a political prisoner to create a free and democratic South Africa. City Year, an AmeriCorps grantee, paid tribute to Mandela in a message from its CEO and co-founder, Michael Brown.

The 2014 Martin Luther King Day of Service is a little more than a month away, and now is the time to order materials to promote the event and join Americans across the nation who will be volunteering in their communities.

Last month in Seattle, I had the opportunity to join St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, President of the National League of Cities, and Mesa Mayor Scott Smith, President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, to announce the second annual Mayors Day of Recognition for National Service, which will be on April 1, 2014.

For the past 15 years, Chad Pregracke has made it his life’s work to clean up the Mississippi River and other American waterways, mobilizing more than 70,000 volunteers to remove seven million pounds of garbage from rivers across the country. For his tireless work to organize river cleanups, Pregracke was named the

November is National Native American Heritage Month, and the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is honored to provide programming to and celebrate the contributions of the first Americans to our national service programs and initiatives.

What am I thankful for? YOU! That’s right, I’m thankful for you – because you are making a difference in your community every day as an AmeriCorps member.
I'm also thankful for my loving, wonderful family.